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This paper describes the Santos Basin Underwater Soundscape Monitoring Project (PMPAS-BS), a Brazilian ocean soundscape monitoring initiative. The main objective of the project is to quantify and assess hydroacoustic noise of anthropogenic origin in a large sedimentary basin extending from 23° S to 28° S on the southeastern Brazilian continental margin of the South Atlantic Ocean. Noise associated with oil and gas (O&G) exploration and production activities is the primary target, but this oceanic region also has busy shipping lanes for commercial, military, and fishing vessels. The two main hubs of Brazil’s export and import of goods by sea are located in this region: Santos and Rio de Janeiro ports. The project has three measurement components: mobile monitoring based on gliders and drifting acoustic profilers, fixed shallow-water monitoring based on acoustic measurements at coastal stations near shipping lanes associated with exploration and production activities in the Santos Basin, and fixed oceanic monitoring based on deep-water mooring lines equipped with passive autonomous acoustic recorders near production units, shipping lanes, and areas with lower intensity of O&G activities (pristine or reference sites). Numerical modeling of anthropogenic underwater acoustic noise has also been included as a fourth project component. The PMPAS-BS covers an area of more than 251,000 km² and uses several instruments with different methods and sensors for acoustic measurements. Its results provide current sound levels over a very large region of the western South Atlantic, both in areas more and less affected by anthropogenic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents design method for a tuned liquid damper (TLD) to improve the stability of measurement system based on a spar buoy. Firstly, a TLD was designed utilizing the double-partition hull structure of spar buoy, and the theoretical natural sloshing frequency for this design was calculated. Next, an experimental study was conducted to verify the theoretical calculations. The experimental results showed that the natural sloshing frequency increased with the height of the fluid free-surface, and the values are in close agreement with the theoretical calculations. Finally, the TLD was installed to a free-drifting structure at sea, and the dynamic behavior reduction effect was experimentally verified. The results showed that the behavior of the structure is significantly reduced after the TLD is installed, especially for the behavior above 4 cm. The main contribution of this study is the integration of a TLD into the existing structure of the spar buoy, which enhances stability without compromising buoyancy. However, this approach is limited by the shape and volume constraints of the TLD, making it less effective across all wave-induced frequencies. Further research is required to extend its applicability to a broader range of maritime conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem that the existing methods are insufficient in dealing with the background noise anti-interference of underwater fish images, a contrastive learning method of ignoring background called CLIB for underwater fish image classification is proposed to improve the accuracy and robustness of underwater fish image classification. First, CLIB effectively separates the subject from the background in the image through the extraction module and applies it to contrastive learning by composing three complementary views with the original image. To further improve the adaptive ability of CLIB in complex underwater images, we propose a multi-view-based contrastive loss function, whose core idea is to enhance the similarity between the original image and the subject and maximize the difference between the subject and the background, making CLIB focus more on learning the core features of the subject during the training process, and effectively ignoring the interference of background noise. Experiments on the Fish4Knowledge, Fish-gres, WildFish-30, and QUTFish-89 public datasets show that our method performs well, with improvements of 1.43-6.75%, 8.16-8.95%, 13.1-14.82%, and 3.92-6.19%, respectively, compared with the baseline model, further validating the effectiveness of CLIB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater turtles exhibit temporary threshold shifts (TTS) when exposed to broadband sound, but whether frequency-restricted narrowband noise induces TTS was unknown. Underwater TTS was investigated in two freshwater turtle species (Emydidae) following exposures to 1 6 -octave narrowband noise (155–172 dB re 1 μPa2 s). While shifts occurred in all turtles at the noise center frequency (400 Hz), there were more instances of TTS and greater shift magnitudes at 1 2 octave above the center frequency, despite considerably lower received levels. These frequency-specific data provide new insight into how TTS manifests in turtles and expand empirical models to predict freshwater turtle TTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater noise pollution from pile driving is now attracting increasing attention. However, most of the current numerical and semi-analytical models for predicting the noise are still expensive and time-consuming, and the near-field noise and far-field noise have to be obtained from different models. This paper proposes an efficient semi-analytical solution for predicting underwater noise in both near field and far field with only one model, whose computational efficiency is orders of magnitude higher than that of the finite element model. It is the first time that the Baranov–Novak thin-layer model for soil-pile interaction has been extended to the subject of underwater noise prediction during pile installation, taking into account pile-fluid-soil interaction. The solutions are obtained using the Laplace transform and the variable separation method. By comparing the prediction results with the five reported research cases, it is shown that the error of the proposed model is within reasonable limits for both near-field and far-field noise predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Systems Engineering & Electronics is the property of Journal of Systems Engineering & Electronics Editorial Department and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Speed restrictions for ships have been introduced locally to reduce the waves and turbulence causing erosion, and safety hazards, and to mitigate the air and underwater noise emissions. Ship speed restrictions could be used to minimize the climate impact of maritime transport since many air pollutants in ship exhaust gas are reduced when travelling at lower speeds. However, for example, methane and black carbon emissions do not linearly correlate with the load of internal combustion engines. Therefore, the effect of speed restrictions may not be trivial. Black carbon concentrations from ship plumes were examined at a remote marine site in the southwestern Finnish archipelago. Ships with service speeds over 15 kn and equipped with an exhaust gas cleaning system were analysed for black carbon emissions as a function of speed. Both unadjusted and weather-adjusted main engine loads were modelled to determine load-based emission factors. Black carbon concentration per kilogram of fuel decreased as a function of engine load. However, calculated per hour, the black carbon emission increased as a function of ship speed, reaching peak values at around 15–20 kn and decreasing thereafter. In terms of local air quality, total black carbon emission per nautical mile was the highest around the halved speeds, 10–13 kn, or when the speed was higher than 20–23 kn. From a climate warming perspective, the CO 2 emissions dominated the exhaust gas, and reducing the speed decreased the global warming potential in CO 2 equivalent, both per hour and per nautical mile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During underwater image processing, image quality is affected by the absorption and scattering of light in water, thus causing problems such as blurring and noise. As a result, poor image quality is unavoidable. To achieve overall satisfying research results, underwater image denoising is vital. This paper presents an underwater image denoising method, named HHDNet, designed to address noise issues arising from environmental interference and technical limitations during underwater robot photography. The method leverages a dual-branch network architecture to handle both high and low frequencies, incorporating a hybrid attention module specifically designed for the removal of high-frequency abrupt noise in underwater images. Input images are decomposed into high-frequency and low-frequency components using a Gaussian kernel. For the high-frequency part, a Global Context Extractor (GCE) module with a hybrid attention mechanism focuses on removing high-frequency abrupt signals by capturing local details and global dependencies simultaneously. For the low-frequency part, efficient residual convolutional units are used in consideration of less noise information. Experimental results demonstrate that HHDNet effectively achieves underwater image denoising tasks, surpassing other existing methods not only in denoising effectiveness but also in maintaining computational efficiency, and thus HHDNet provides more flexibility in underwater image noise removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the Santos Basin Underwater Soundscape Monitoring Project (PMPAS-BS), a Brazilian ocean soundscape monitoring initiative. The main objective of the project is to quantify and assess hydroacoustic noise of anthropogenic origin in a large sedimentary basin extending from 23° S to 28° S on the southeastern Brazilian continental margin of the South Atlantic Ocean. Noise associated with oil and gas (O&G) exploration and production activities is the primary target, but this oceanic region also has busy shipping lanes for commercial, military, and fishing vessels. The two main hubs of Brazil’s export and import of goods by sea are located in this region: Santos and Rio de Janeiro ports. The project has three measurement components: mobile monitoring based on gliders and drifting acoustic profilers, fixed shallow-water monitoring based on acoustic measurements at coastal stations near shipping lanes associated with exploration and production activities in the Santos Basin, and fixed oceanic monitoring based on deep-water mooring lines equipped with passive autonomous acoustic recorders near production units, shipping lanes, and areas with lower intensity of O&G activities (pristine or reference sites). Numerical modeling of anthropogenic underwater acoustic noise has also been included as a fourth project component. The PMPAS-BS covers an area of more than 251,000 km² and uses several instruments with different methods and sensors for acoustic measurements. Its results provide current sound levels over a very large region of the western South Atlantic, both in areas more and less affected by anthropogenic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) has excellent potential for obtaining water depth information around islands and reefs. Combining the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise algorithm (DBSCAN) and multiscale quadtree analysis, we propose a new photon-counting lidar denoising method to discard the large amount of noise in ICESat-2 data. First, the kernel density estimation (KDE) is used to preprocess the point cloud data, and a threshold is set to remove the noise photons on the sea surface. Next, the DBSCAN algorithm is used to preliminarily remove underwater noise photons. Then, the quadtree segmentation and Otsu algorithm are used for fine denoising to extract accurate bottom signal photons. Based on ICESat-2 pho-ton-counting data from six typical islands and reefs worldwide, the proposed method outperforms other algorithms in terms of denoising effect. Compared to in situ data, the determination coefficient (R2) reaches 94.59%, and the root mean square error (RMSE) is 1.01 m. The proposed method can extract accurate underwater terrain information, laying a foundation for offshore bathymetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Hydrobiology is the property of Editorial Department of Journal of Hydrobiology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present study aims to determine submarine structural elements by analysing high-resolution magnetic data sets and to examine the impact of geological surface structures characterizing Lake Sapanca. Lake Sapanca is located on the northern branch of the North Anatolian Fault Zone. The study area and its immediate surroundings are located within the most active tectonic structure of Turkey. A magnetic study was carried out in Sapanca Lake to reveal the structural elements that caused the formation of the lake. Diurnal corrections were applied to the magnetic data. During the analysis of the marine magnetic data set, there are variations in the mean field level of the magnetic field caused by the routing effects of ship noise on the measurements. To eliminate this noise effect, directional correction was performed. Then, de-stripping correction was also applied. It is essential to estimate the boundaries and depths of the structural features of the region. In order to elucidate the structural features of the region, different techniques such as tilt angle derivative, the total horizontal derivative of tilt angle derivative, Euler 2D deconvolution, horizontal gradient magnitude, and source edge detection were applied to magnetic data. 2-D modelling using GM-SYS in Oasis Montaj were performed. These techniques identified and mapped the edges of anomalous sources related to magnetic data corresponding to geological elements in the study area. The results allow us to image the submarine lineaments for the survey area. These structural lineaments are in E–W, NE–SW and NW–SE trends. These lineaments in our results are quite compatible with the faults in previous geophysical results. The E–W trending lineaments are related to the E–W trending faults in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A standard finite element method (FEM) is hindered by numerical dispersion error and fails to achieve accurate solutions for underwater noise prediction at large wave numbers. This study develops an advanced FEM known as the coupled local smoothing FEM (CLS-FEM) to address this issue. This methodology integrates the local smoothing FEM (LS-FEM) with the modified Dirichlet-to-Neumann boundary condition (MDtNBC). The MDtNBC is applied to an artificial boundary in CLS-FEM to ensure sound traveling outward and the solution's uniqueness. A hybrid acoustic stiffness is established to mitigate the dispersion error by combining the "overly stiff" FEM and the "overly soft" node-based smoothed FEM (NS-FEM) models. A key feature of CLS-FEM is its ability to significantly improve accuracy by appropriately softening acoustic stiffness without adding extra degrees of freedom. The performance of CLS-FEM is investigated numerically. Numerical examples are conducted to assess the characteristics of the approach. These simulations demonstrated that the proposed CLS-FEM significantly reduces the numerical dispersion error, achieving greater precision than both FEM and NS-FEM at large wave numbers. Hence, the developed method proves competitive for computing underwater noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Propeller cavitation is one of the main causes of pressure fluctuation and noise around marine propellers, and tip vortex cavitation is one of the main causes of high-frequency underwater radiated noise. To predict tip vortex cavitation, it is necessary to correctly describe the radius of the vortex core and the vortex circulation of the tip vortex. Therefore, in this study, non-cavitating flow field measurements around the tip of model propellers were made for the 0.75 m diameter working section of the large cavitation tunnel at the National Maritime Research Institute, Japan (NMRI) using 2D-PIV. Identification procedures were investigated to develop a tip vortex model. The vortex properties (radius of vortex core and vortex circulation) of the tip vortex were obtained by applying by a Rankine vortex model and a Burgers vortex model. The measured velocity and vorticity values around the tip vortex as identified by the Burgers vortex model were in better agreement than those given by the Rankine vortex model. The Burgers vortex model was suitable for obtaining vortex properties from the measured flow field around the tip vortex. The vortex properties obtained from the identification using the Burgers vortex model showed the Reynolds number demonstrated a greater effect on the radius of the vortex core and vortex circulation. The higher the Reynolds numbers, the smaller the radius of the vortex core and the smaller vortex circulation tends to be. It is also shown that this Reynolds number effect differs depending on the blade shape of the propellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the results of three-dimensional (3D) propagation modeling of noise from a transiting bulk carrier vessel. In the simulated scenario, the surface vessel is moving past a bottom-mounted hydrophone system. Sound levels are estimated in decidecade frequency bands as the vessel transits past the hydrophone, and the simulation results are compared against real measured data. The modelling is performed using the program AMPLE, which is based on the wide-angle mode parabolic equation theory for simulating 3D broadband acoustic fields in a shallow sea. The model is used to investigate the effect of 3D phenomena on the surface vessel sound propagation. It is shown that an inaccuracy of the noise simulation associated with the use of a two-dimensional model can be as high as 7–10 dB for certain distances and for frequency bands over which a major part of the source energy is distributed. An approach to the selection of data-adjusted media parameters based on the Bayesian optimization is suggested, and the influence of the various parameters on the sound levels is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the field excited in a waveguide by a point noise source is performed using the phase space representation of this field given by the distribution of its amplitude in the depth–angle–time space. The transition from the traditional description of the field amplitude as a function of depth and time to phase space representation is performed using the coherent state expansion developed in quantum mechanics. In this paper, the correlation function of noise signals arriving at different points of the phase plane depth–angle is investigated. Numerical simulation data show that measurements of signal correlations in phase space, performed with the help of a receiving vertical antenna, can be used as input data in solving the problem of source localization and reconstruction of unknown parameters of the sound speed profile. It is shown that in phase space there is an analog of the classical interference pattern observed in the distribution of sound intensity in the distance–frequency plane. The slopes of striations in this interference pattern, as in the conventional one, are given by the Chuprov waveguide invariant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased ship traffic due to climate change increases underwater noise in the Arctic. Therefore, accurate measurements of underwater radiated noise are necessary to map marine sound and quantify shipping's impact on the Arctic ecosystem. This paper presents a method to calculate opportunistic source levels (SLs) using passive acoustic data collected at six locations in the Western Canadian Arctic from 2018 to 2022. Based on Automatic Identification System data, acoustic data, and a hybrid sound propagation model, the SLs of individual ships were calculated within a 5 km radius of each measurement site. A total of 66 measurements were obtained from 11 unique vessels, with multiple measurements from the same vessel type contributing more SLs. For vessels with propeller cavitation, measured SLs correlated positively with vessel parameters, such as speed and length. SL and speed did not correlate well for vessels without propeller cavitation. The JOMOPANS-ECHO SL model produced good agreement with measured SL for certain ship types (container ships, a tanker, and a passenger vessel). However, significant differences between measurement and model are evident for certain polar-class ships that travel in the Arctic, indicating that more controlled SL measurements are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of the underwater radiated noise at a model scale is generally the preferred way to predict this important feature at sea, using scaling laws. The accuracy of such method depends on many parameters. The measurement accuracy in a test section of a cavitation depends on the model used for the transfer function or for the propagation model. Thus, the knowledge of the wall acoustic impedance appears as an important parameter in such studies. The proposed study presents a modal method dedicated to the estimate of the wall impedance of a cavitation tunnel test section. It is based on a reverse method to estimate the impedance from measurements assuming that the sensor locations are known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquatic animals (invertebrates, fishes, and marine mammals) are encountering an increasing array of underwater anthropogenic noises that can disrupt and even harm ecosystems as well as the lives of individuals and populations. Sources of anthropogenic noise include, but are not limited to, shipping, offshore exploration and production for fossil fuels, and the construction and operation of wind farms. Because of the continuing increase in anthropogenic noise, research on its potential effects on aquatic animals has intensified over the past two decades. However, a major under-explored issue is that noise is only one type of anthropogenic pressure acting (often simultaneously) on animals. Indeed, multiple simultaneous anthropogenic pressures are likely to affect how aquatic animals respond to each of the individual stimuli. Moreover, animal responses may be very different in the presence of multiple pressures as compared to when there is only a single anthropogenic source. We suggest refocusing of aquatic noise so that research prioritizes studies that deal with the interaction of noise with other anthropogenic pressures on aquatic life. At the same time, we call for an acceleration of studies providing baseline data for cumulative risk studies, such as monitoring of ambient noise around the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flow field and radiated noise resulting from water flowing through a fin and rudder were analyzed in this study. A hydrodynamic experiment was conducted in a water tunnel to measure the pressure fluctuations affecting a fin and rudder, and then the experimental data and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) results were compared and analyzed. The discussion presented herein focuses on the zero angle of attack and the Reynolds number based on a maximum width of the fin and rudder ranging from 3.6 × 106 to 9.7 × 106. Furthermore, a numerical model was developed using the LES turbulence model and Lighthill's acoustic analog theory to predict the flow-induced noise generated by the fin and rudder. The test data reveal that the pressure fluctuation decreases as frequency increases, and the average rate of decrease is obtained for frequencies up to 5.0 kHz. Additionally, as flow velocity increases, the overall sound pressure level of flow-induced noise also increases. The relationship between the sound power radiated by the fin and rudder and the flow velocity approximately follows a power law with an exponent of seven, and the noise radiated on both sides is greater than that radiated in the direction of flow. The findings presented in this paper have practical implications for designing quieter rudders and optimizing the noise performance of underwater vehicles and ships, thereby addressing concerns regarding the impact of anthropogenic noise on marine life and ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ship-radiated noise separation is critical in both military and economic domains. However, due to the complex underwater environments with multiple noise sources and reverberation, separating ship-radiated noise poses a significant challenge. Traditionally, underwater acoustic signal separation has employed blind source separation methods based on independent component analysis. Recently, the separation of underwater acoustic signals has been approached as a deep learning problem. This involves learning the features of ship-radiated noise from training data. This paper introduces a deep time-domain network for ship-radiated noise separation by leveraging the power of parallel dilated convolution and group convolution. The separation layer employs parallel dilated convolution operations with varying expansion factors to better extract low-frequency features from the signal envelope while preserving detailed information. Additionally, we use group convolution to reduce the expansion of network size caused by parallel convolution operations, enabling the network to maintain a smaller size and computational complexity while achieving good separation performance. The proposed approach is demonstrated to be superior to the other common networks in the DeepShip dataset through comprehensive comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of high-intensity impulsive noise generated by pile driving on fish are a major concern in environmental impact assessments. Numerical acoustic models are essential for predicting underwater-acoustic-related problems in complex coastal environments prior to offshore construction. However, underwater noise modeling for impact pile driving has often been performed using simplistic propagation models that are inadequate for three-dimensional (3D) environments. A 3D parabolic equation method (PE) was established in this study to better predict broadband transmission loss (TL) from impact pile driving in complex coastal environments and its influence on the large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea). The effects of 3D propagation were investigated using two realistic scenarios with different bathymetric complexities. The values and attenuation rate of the broadband TL for the steeply sloped bottom were significantly greater than those for the flat and weakly varying bottoms over 3 km. At a water depth of 5 m, a difference of approximately 10 dB was observed between the two TL scenarios at a distance of 4.5 to 5 km. The simulation results are in reasonable agreement with the field measurement data, with a difference of less than 3 dB. The zones of behavioral response and injury in the large yellow croakerwere estimated using the For3Dmodel. The results showed that the effects of the noise generated by the impact pile driving on the large yellow croaker were evident and three-dimensional. Therefore, 3D propagation effects should be considered when analyzing the influence of underwater noise on marine animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Settlement is a critical period in the life cycle of marine invertebrates with a planktonic larval stage. For reef-building invertebrates such as oysters and corals, settlement rates are predictive for long-term reef survival. Increasing evidence suggests that marine invertebrates use information from ocean soundscapes to inform settlement decisions. Sessile marine invertebrates with a planktonic stage are particularly reliant on environmental cues to direct them to ideal habitats. As gregarious settlers, oysters prefer to settle amongst members of the same species. It has been hypothesized that oyster larvae from species Crassostrea virginica and Ostrea angasi use distinct conspecific oyster reef sounds to navigate to ideal habitats. In controlled laboratory experiments we exposed Pacific Oyster Magallana gigas larvae to anthropogenic sounds from conspecific oyster reefs, vessels, combined reef-vessel sounds as well as off-reef and no speaker controls. Our findings show that sounds recorded at conspecific reefs induced higher percentages of settlement by about 1.44 and 1.64 times compared to off-reef and no speaker controls, respectively. In contrast, the settlement increase compared to the no speaker control was non-significant for vessel sounds (1.21 fold), combined reef-vessel sounds (1.30 fold), and off-reef sounds (1.18 fold). This study serves as a foundational stepping stone for exploring larval sound feature preferences within this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and precise time-frequency analysis method for real-time ocean bottom seismometer (RTOBS) data in the South China Sea (SCS) is presented. Overcoming the limitations of conventional methods, the method involves temporal segmentation, unique frequency octaves, and Fourier transforms to generate power spectral density (PSD) and probability density function profiles. The method demonstrates superior precision, computational efficiency, and full-bandwidth (0 to Nyquist) capability compared to traditional techniques, as validated through theoretical and empirical evaluations. Applied to SCS RTOBS data, it unveils temporal PSD variations, shedding light on underwater noise sources like earthquakes, offshore blasting, ship-induced disturbances, and tidal effects. Establishing background noise levels in the SCS supports noise source categorization and ocean environment monitoring. Furthermore, comparing onshore and offshore seismic stations advances interdisciplinary research, fostering a comprehensive understanding of acoustics and seismology in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testudines are a highly threatened group facing an array of stressors, including alteration of their sensory environment. Underwater noise pollution has the potential to induce hearing loss and disrupt detection of biologically important acoustic cues and signals. To examine the conditions that induce temporary threshold shifts (TTS) in hearing in the freshwater Eastern painted turtle (Chrysemys picta picta), three individuals were exposed to band limited continuous white noise (50–1000 Hz) of varying durations and amplitudes (sound exposure levels ranged from 151 to 171 dB re 1 μPa2 s). Control and post-exposure auditory thresholds were measured and compared at 400 and 600 Hz using auditory evoked potential methods. TTS occurred in all individuals at both test frequencies, with shifts of 6.1–41.4 dB. While the numbers of TTS occurrences were equal between frequencies, greater shifts were observed at 600 Hz, a frequency of higher auditory sensitivity, compared to 400 Hz. The onset of TTS occurred at 154 dB re 1 μPa2 s for 600 Hz, compared to 158 dB re 1 μPa2 s at 400 Hz. The 400-Hz onset and patterns of TTS growth and recovery were similar to those observed in previously studied Trachemys scripta elegans, suggesting TTS may be comparable across Emydidae species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sound speed is a critical parameter in ocean acoustic studies, as it determines the propagation and interpretation of recorded sounds. The potential for exploiting oceanic vessel noise as a sound source of opportunity to estimate ocean sound speed profile is investigated. A deep learning-based inversion scheme, relying upon the underwater radiated noise of moving vessels measured by a single hydrophone, is proposed. The dataset used for this study consists of Automatic Identification System data and acoustic recordings of maritime vessels transiting through the Santa Barbara Channel between January 2015 and December 2017. The acoustic recordings and vessel descriptors are used as predictors for regressing sound speed for each meter in the top 200 m of the water column, where sound speeds are most variable. Multiple (typically ranging between 4 and 10) transits were recorded each day; therefore, this dataset provides an opportunity to investigate whether multiple acoustic observations can be leveraged together to improve inversion estimates. The proposed single-transit and multi-transit models resulted in depth-averaged root-mean-square errors of 1.79 and 1.55 m/s, respectively, compared to the seasonal average predictions of 2.80 m/s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the western Mediterranean has shown that sperm (Physeter macrocephalus) and Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) are present as small, globally distinct populations that face numerous threats.The eastern Mediterranean is not well studied, and few surveys have investigated the composition of cetacean communities. In this study, visual‐acoustic surveys were conducted off the coast of Israel during April–May 2022 to characterize the cetacean community.Sperm whales (three encounters), Cuvier's beaked whales (one encounter), bottlenose dolphins (one encounter (Tursiops truncatus)) and unidentified delphinids (17 encounters) were acoustically detected.Sperm whales were foraging ~10 km off Haifa, at 370–1220 m deep and social vocalizations (codas) corresponded to the Mediterranean dialect. One immature male that was photographed is known from 12 previous encounters in the Ligurian Sea, indicating a west–east movement of approximately 2800 km.Automated passive acoustic monitoring of narrow, relatively shallow areas such as the Sicily Channel could provide an opportunity to reduce mortality of individuals making long‐distance movements within Mediterranean basins. Israeli waters provide habitat for cetaceans, with two threatened subpopulations—sperm and Cuvier's beaked whales—that are negatively impacted by anthropogenic activities, including those that introduce underwater noise. More data are needed on densities of these deep‐water species, and an evaluation of the threats faced in the wider Levantine basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recreational boats are common in many coastal waters, yet their effects on cetaceans and other sensitive marine species remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we used drone video footage recorded from a recreational boat to quantify how harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) responded to the boat approaching at different speeds (10 or 20 knots). Furthermore, we used a hydrophone to record boat noise levels at full bandwidth (0.1–150 kHz) and at the 1/3 octave 16 kHz frequency band for both experimental speeds. The experiments were carried out in shallow waters near Funen, Denmark (55.51° N, 10.79° E) between July and September 2022. Porpoises were more likely to move further away from the path of the boat when approached at 10 knots, but not when approached at 20 knots. In contrast, they swam faster when approached at 20 knots, but not when approached at 10 knots. The recorded received sound level did not depend on how fast the boat approached, suggesting that differences in porpoise responses were related to the speed of the approaching boat rather than to sound intensity. In addition, porpoises generally reacted within close proximity (<200 m) to the approaching boat and quickly (<50 s) resumed their natural behaviour once the boat had passed, indicating that the direct impact of small vessels on porpoise behaviour was most likely small. Nevertheless, repeated exposure to noise from small vessels may influence porpoises' activity or energy budget, and cause them to relocate from disturbed areas. The approach used in this study increases our understanding of recreational boats' impact on harbour porpoises and can be used to inform efficient mitigation measures to help focus conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multi-frequency noisy vibration of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a significant factor affecting the performance of shear probes mounted on the head of AUVs. Many efforts have been made to suppress mechanical radiation noise; however, conventional noise reduction methods have their limitations, such as mode mixing. In order to extract thorough information from the aliasing modes and achieve multi-frequency mode targeted correction, a multi-frequency noise reduction method is proposed, based on secondary decomposition and the multi-mode coherence correction algorithm. Weak impulses in aliasing shear mode are enhanced, and mixing frequencies are isolated for thorough decomposition. Noisy mechanical vibrations in the shear modes are eliminated with the use of the acceleration modes along the identical central frequency series. The denoised modes are used to reconstruct the cleaned shear signal, and the updated spectra are aligned with the standard Nasmyth spectrum. Compared with the raw profiles, the variation in the dissipation rate estimated from the corrected shear is reduced by more than an order of magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide the Feynman–Kac representation for the parabolic Anderson equations driven by a general Gaussian noise. As a feature of the idea, we can mention the argument of subadditivity used to establish the required exponential integrability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime traffic is a major contributor of anthropogenic disturbance for cetaceans, especially for coastal populations, such as that of resident common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Sado estuary (Portugal). Animals have been found to adjust their vocal behavior by changing vocal rates, or call frequency and/or duration, to overcome masking effects of underwater noise. To evaluate the potential impacts of boat traffic on the acoustic behavior of these dolphins, emission rates and acoustic characteristics of whistles and burst‐pulsed signals were analyzed with and without boats operating nearby. In this study, no significant differences were found for emission rates of each type of vocal element in the presence of vessels. However, significant differences were found in acoustic parameters, namely changes in frequency and duration, for whistles and for pulsed sounds (creaks, grunts, squeaks, and gulps). These changes, such as a shift in vocal frequencies and production of shorter signals, may represent behavioral strategies to compensate for the noisy environment. Although resident bottlenose dolphins in the Sado region seem to have developed some tolerance to vessel noise, continuous noise exposure and noise‐induced frequency shifts in vocal outputs could have indirect fitness costs for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of complex electromagnetic noise in the ocean significantly impacts the accuracy of ship shaft-rate electric field signal detection, necessitating the development of an effective denoising method to enhance detection precision. Nevertheless, traditional denoising methods encounter issues like low frequency resolution, challenging threshold configuration, and mode mixing. This study introduces a method that integrates variational mode decomposition (VMD) with multi-window spectral subtraction (MSS). The intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) of noisy signals are extracted using VMD, and the noise components within different IMFs are identified. The spectral features of both signal and noise within different IMFs are leveraged to eliminate noise signals via MSS. Subsequently, the denoised components of IMFs are rearranged to derive the denoised ship shaft-rate electric field signals, achieving noise reduction across various frequency bands. Following validation using simulation signals and empirical data, the noise reduction efficacy of VMD-MSS surpasses that of alternative methods, demonstrating robust performance even at low signal-to-noise ratios. The marine electromagnetic noise is effectively suppressed in the empirical data, while preserving the characteristics of ship's shaft-rate signals, thereby validating the method's efficacy and demonstrating its practical engineering value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The horizontal records of ocean‐bottom seismometers (OBS) are usually highly noisy, generally due to ocean‐bottom currents tilting the instrument, which greatly limits their practical usage in ocean‐bottom seismology. In shallow water, water waves with energy concentration around 0.07 Hz induce additional noise on OBSs. Such noise is not well understood. In this article, we propose a noise model to explain the horizontal noise around 0.07 Hz. The noise model consists of three types of noise, that is, water‐wave‐induced noise, current noise with a relatively constant orientation, and background random noise. The wave‐induced horizontal acceleration is theoretically shown to be proportional to the time derivative of ocean‐bottom pressure. We validate the noise model and related theories using realistic observations. Results are potentially applicable to determine the propagation direction of water waves nearshore, and also provide constraints on the underlying Earth structure. The results can also be applied to the removal of wave‐induced noise, achieving a typical maximum improvement in the signal‐to‐noise ratio of 10–20 dB for time periods with strong wave noise. Plain Language Summary: Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBSs) are important instruments for seafloor seismology. However, OBS recordings are highly noisy, and the noise mechanism is not well understood. Currently, most research focuses on the noise in the vertical channel, and understanding of the horizontal noise has been limited. In this study we investigate one specific type of OBS noise, which is commonly observed in shallow water is associated with water waves. We propose a noise model to explain the noise, and also develop analytical theories for the noise generation. The noise model and related theories are verified by realistic recordings. Based on the theories, we propose potential applications, for example, derivation of the water‐wave propagation direction and subsurface structure inversion using the noise. A method of noise removal is also developed, which highly improves the signal‐to‐noise ratio. Key Points: We propose a noise model to explain the horizontal OBS noise around 0.07 Hz in shallow waterThe noise model and related theories are validated by realistic observationsPotential applications to determine water‐wave direction, Earth structure inversion and noise removal are discussed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater noise pollution is a significant environmental issue that can have detrimental effects on marine ecosystems. One of the main sources of underwater noise pollution is ship traffic, which has been shown to negatively impact marine animals by masking communication signals and altering their behaviors. This study represents the first comprehensive analysis of underwater ship noise in the Red Sea, wherein noise maps of ships sailing through the main shipping lane in the Red Sea were simulated by integrating both anthropogenic and environmental variables. These maps offer valuable insights for policymakers, enabling them to make informed decisions and implement targeted mitigation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-frequency hydroacoustic noise and particle motion radiated from cross-river structures can pose a threat to aquatic systems, particularly for endangered species. In this study, an experimental study was first conducted to obtain the vibration and hydroacoustic noise of the metro tunnel of Nanjing Metro Line 10, which crosses Yangtze River in China. Then, a three-dimensional finite element model and acoustic model were developed to simulate the vehicle-induced vibration and underwater noise, respectively. Finally, the effect of reducing fastener stiffness on the vibration and noise reduction was investigated. The results showed that the measured dynamic responses agree well with the simulated results for the frequencies from 50 to 150 Hz. The metro vehicle-induced noise primarily occurred between 20 and 200 Hz, and the predicted sound pressure levels closely matched the experimental results. Both experimental and numerical noise levels exceeded the threshold of the Carassius auratus and Gadus morhua, which indicated potential impact of the noise on these species. Implementing lower stiffness rail fasteners proved effective in controlling the noise level and mitigating the impact on sensitive species. The proposed method was practicable in investigating the dynamic response of underwater tunnel and evaluating the influence of corresponding noise on aquatic species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cavitation noise, mainly from bubble cluster collapse, is a primary source of noise in underwater equipment. This study aims to elucidate the acoustic characteristics of bubble clusters with varying volume fractions (0.002%–43%), thereby illuminating the noise patterns generated during bubble cluster collapse. With the direct numerical simulation (DNS) method, we simulate the collapse of bubble clusters containing 352 vapor bubbles. Far-field sound pressure was calculated by using the Farassat 1 A integral solution of the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings (FW–H) equation. The results show that when the volume fraction of bubble clusters is greater than 20%, the higher the volume fraction, the closer the far-field sound pressure radiated by its collapse is to that of the equivalent bubble (whose volume is equal to the volume of the bubble cluster), and when the volume fraction is greater than 30%, the sound pressure of the bubble cluster is basically the same as that of the equivalent bubble. Furthermore, when the volume fraction of bubble clusters is less than 1%, the lower the volume fraction is, the closer the sound pressure obtained through the superposition of a single bubble (each with an initial radius equal to that within clusters and in a free field) is to that of bubble clusters, and when the volume fraction is less than 0.1%, the bubble clusters' sound pressures agree with those obtained through superposition. This study reveals the far-field noise pattern generated by the collapse of bubble clusters, providing a theoretical basis for the prediction of cavitation noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a family of stochastic differential equations driven by additive Gaussian noise, we study the asymptotic behaviors of its corresponding Euler–Maruyama scheme by deriving its convergence rate in terms of relative entropy. Our results for the convergence rate in terms of relative entropy complement the conventional ones in the strong and weak sense and induce some other properties of the Euler–Maruyama scheme. For example, the convergence in terms of the total variation distance can be implied by Pinsker's inequality directly. Moreover, when the drift is β ( 0 < β < 1 )-Hölder continuous in the spatial variable, the convergence rate in terms of the weighted variation distance is also established. Both of these convergence results do not seem to be directly obtained from any other convergence results of the Euler–Maruyama scheme. The main tool this paper relies on is the Girsanov transform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies on the perception of impact sounds question the correlation of standardized approaches with perceived annoyance, while more recent studies have come to inconsistent conclusions. All these studies neglected the aspect of whole-body vibrations, which are known to be relevant for the perception of low-frequency sound and can be perceived especially in lightweight constructions. Basically, the contribution of vibrations to impact sound annoyance is still unknown and could be the reason for the contradictory results. To investigate this aspect, we measured vibrations on different types of floors under laboratory conditions and in situ. For this purpose, a vibration-sensing device was developed to record vibrations more cost-effectively and independently of commercial recording instruments. The vibrations of predefined impact sequences were recorded together with the sound field using a higher-order ambisonics microphone. In addition, a vibration exposure device was developed to expose the test objects to the exact vibrations that occur in the built environment. The vibration exposure device is integrated into the ambisonics reproduction system, which consists of a large number of loudspeakers in a spherical configuration. The article presents the development and performance achieved using the vibration-sensing unit and the vibration exposure device. The study is relevant for conducting future impact sound listening tests under laboratory conditions, which can be extended to include the reproduction of vibrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasing noise pollution, noise control has drawn more and more public attention. Different from traditional methods to reduce noise energy such as active and passive noise control, suppressing noise annoyance through adding sounds is another choice. In previous studies, water sounds are usually used to adjust the annoyance of traffic noise, but the suppression effect of the water sounds varies from person to person. Low-frequency tonal noise is one kind of typical and common mechanical noise, i.e., substation noise, whose annoyance is caused by tonal perception and higher energy in low frequency is difficult to suppress even though adding sounds. In this study, different controllable sounds (water sounds and narrow-band color noises) with different masker-to-noise ratios (MNRs) were added to low-frequency tonal noise to investigate the annoyance suppression effect through listening tests. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the quantitative suppression effect, the standard sample method (SSM) was applied in the listening tests to convert the annoyance difference into the difference of equivalent sound pressure level of 1 kHz and 70 dB pure tone ( Δ S P L 1 k H z , 70 d B ). Results show that different kinds of water sounds and narrow-band color noises effectively reduce noise annoyance. The optimal result comes from adding one kind of water sound, which reduces the annoyance of substation noise by 27.24%, equivalent to reducing Δ S P L 1 k H z , 70 d B by 6.5 dB. Finally, the annoyance prediction model of combined noises is established to choose controllable sounds and predict the suppression effect of annoyance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used accelerometers and hydrophones to measure the vibration and underwater noise from two different types of offshore wind turbine installed near the East China Sea Bridge (Shanghai). Wind speed and rotor speed were also monitored synchronously. The spectrograms of the vibration and underwater noise signals display well-defined spectral lines that are easily distinguishable. Line-component spectra of both vibration and underwater noise signals were synchronously extracted through filtering and correlation analysis. On this basis, relationships between the intensity and frequency of wind turbine vibration and underwater noise line-component spectra, rotor speed, and wind speed were analyzed. Results indicate that rotor speed is positively correlated with wind speed, and that the peak vibration frequencies and intensities of both types of turbine are positively correlated with rotor speed. Consequently, it can be concluded that the frequency and intensity of turbine-generated underwater noise are closely related to wind speed. Additionally, the vibration mechanism and the characterization of underwater noise of the wind turbines have been revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For river crossing bridges, the vehicle-induced vibration can be transmitted to the bridge tower and foundation system. This vibration induced low frequency underwater noise radiation can cause great harm to aquatic organisms. A river crossing suspension bridge was selected to study the sound contribution and spatial distribution of the underwater noise. A bridge-sediment coupling finite element model was developed, and the vehicle-bridge-sediment interaction analysis was conducted to investigate the dynamic response of the coupling system. An acoustic finite element model was built to predict the underwater noise radiated from the tower and sediment, and the noise contribution of these two sound sources was compared. The research shows that the noise radiated from the bridge tower and the sediment is below 6.3 Hz, and the peak frequency is around 3.15 Hz. The noise radiated from bridge tower only has a larger contribution to the total noise level in its vicinity than the sediment, especially around the water surface. In other space, the noise generated through the sediment vibration plays a dominant role in the total noise. The radiated noise from the tower has lateral directivity, and the directivity of the sediment radiation is similar to the point sound source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In animals, the rhythmical properties of calls are known to be shaped by physical constraints and the necessity of conveying information. As a consequence, investigating rhythmical properties in relation to different environmental conditions can help to shed light on the relationship between environment and species behavior from an evolutionary perspective. Sciaena umbra (fam. Sciaenidae) male fish emit reproductive calls characterized by a simple isochronous, i.e., metronome-like rhythm (the so-called R-pattern). Here, S. umbra R-pattern rhythm properties were assessed and compared between four different sites located along the Mediterranean basin (Mallorca, Venice, Trieste, Crete); furthermore, for one location, two datasets collected 10 years apart were available. Recording sites differed in habitat types, vessel density and acoustic richness; despite this, S. umbra R-calls were isochronous across all locations. A degree of variability was found only when considering the beat frequency, which was temporally stable, but spatially variable, with the beat frequency being faster in one of the sites (Venice). Statistically, the beat frequency was found to be dependent on the season (i.e. month of recording) and potentially influenced by the presence of soniferous competitors and human-generated underwater noise. Overall, the general consistency in the measured rhythmical properties (isochrony and beat frequency) suggests their nature as a fitness-related trait in the context of the S. umbra reproductive behavior and calls for further evaluation as a communicative cue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of marine ranches can enrich and conserve the fishery resources and improve themarine ecosystem, which helps realize the sustainable utilization of these resources. Sebastes schlegelii is a major breeding and releasing fish species in the marine ranches of North China. Its behavioral characteristics can be understood better by researching its vocalization, whichwill provide data support for constructing acoustic taming marine rancheswith S. schlegelii as the target fish species. However, there are few studies focusing on its sounds and behaviors. Therefore, based on the passive acousticmonitoring technology, the audios of underwater noises made by S. schlegelii were extracted using an AQH hydrophone. The high-definition internet protocol camera was used to monitor the behavior change of S. schlegelii. Then, by collating and replaying the collected audios and videos, the feeding behavior and biological noises of S. schlegeliiwerematchedtoanalyze their relationship. Results are as follows: (1) The noise of chewing settling granular baits (F5.0 mm) has a main frequency band and sound pressure level of 2000~4500 Hz and 96.53 ± 0.65 dB, respectively; in this feeding process, the main frequency band and sound pressure level of the swimming noise are 25~400 Hz and 95.63 ± 0.38 dB, respectively; the values are 500~700 Hz and 97.34 ± 4.91 dB, respectively, for the noise of flapping the waterwith the tail. (2) The sound signals emitted by S. schlegelii aremostly presented as single pulses during normal habitation or ingestion of baits on the surface of the water tank. However, S. schlegelii will attack and fight against each other when scrambling for baits, during which these signals are presented as continuous pulses. To sum up, the vocalization of S. schlegelii is closely related to feeding activities, and the sounds produced under different behaviors have specific biological significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bubble entrainment caused by and underwater sound produced by a single water drop falling on the surface of freshwater and saltwater were experimentally investigated in this study. A charge-coupled device camera was employed to photograph the drop's impact and the process of bubble formation. Underwater sound was received using a hydrophone connected to a charge amplifier and a data-acquisition system. To capture the temporal and spectral characteristics of the sound, the time series of the underwater sound was transformed into the time–frequency domain by using the Gabor transform. The diameter of the drops was varied from 2.6 to 5.66 mm, and the release heights investigated were 10–150 cm. The experimental results revealed three distinct bubble formation processes following the impact of a water drop. Type-I bubbling was the formation of a singular bubble at the apex of the contracting crater produced by the initial drop impact. Type-II bubbling was the formation of one or multiple bubbles entrained by the downward motion of the water column produced during the initial drop impact. Type-III bubbling was the formation of a singular bubble generated due to the impact of a secondary water drop above the water column. The effects of salinity on bubble entrainment and underwater noise were also studied. For the same experimental parameters, bubbles entrained in saltwater were discovered to be larger than those entrapped in freshwater; moreover, the saltwater bubbles collapsed into two bubbles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater Acoustic Target Recognition (UATR) plays a crucial role in underwater detection devices. However, due to the difficulty and high cost of collecting data in the underwater environment, UATR still faces the problem of small datasets. Few-shot learning (FSL) addresses this challenge through techniques such as Siamese networks and prototypical networks. However, it also suffers from the issue of overfitting, which leads to catastrophic forgetting and performance degradation. Current underwater FSL methods primarily focus on mining similar information within sample pairs, ignoring the unique features of ship radiation noise. This study proposes a novel cross-domain contrastive learning-based few-shot (CDCF) method for UATR to alleviate overfitting issues. This approach leverages self-supervised training on both source and target domains to facilitate rapid adaptation to the target domain. Additionally, a base contrastive module is introduced. Positive and negative sample pairs are generated through data augmentation, and the similarity in the corresponding frequency bands of feature embedding is utilized to learn fine-grained features of ship radiation noise, thereby expanding the scope of knowledge in the source domain. We evaluate the performance of CDCF in diverse scenarios on ShipsEar and DeepShip datasets. The experimental results indicate that in cross-domain environments, the model achieves accuracy rates of 56.71%, 73.02%, and 76.93% for 1-shot, 3-shot, and 5-shot scenarios, respectively, outperforming other FSL methods. Moreover, the model demonstrates outstanding performance in noisy environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to pressure to improve energy efficiency, the maritime industry may soon face demands to reduce underwater noise from shipping. This is illustrated by a large number of studies being reviewed by UN panels to bring clarity to the subject. In this paper, the studies relevant to shipping and shipbuilding are reviewed. From this review the progress of the consultative process, possible shortcomings, and potential collaborative actions beneficial to the marine industry are identified. Key revelations include inconsistencies in the way the scientific community represents shipping noise and areas where more focus is needed to ensure resilience. Furthermore, several future research focus topics are suggested in order to address these issues. This paper does not argue for or against underwater noise being viewed as harmful to marine life; it only serves to review the current consultative process and how the maritime industry could benefit from participating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving underwater image quality is crucial for marine detection applications. However, in the marine environment, captured images are often affected by various degradation factors due to the complexity of underwater conditions. In addition to common color distortions, marine snow noise in underwater images is also a significant issue. The backscatter of artificial light on marine snow generates specks in images, thereby affecting image quality, scene perception, and subsequently impacting downstream tasks such as target detection and segmentation. Addressing the issues caused by marine snow noise, we have designed a new network structure. In this work, a novel skip-connection structure called a dual channel multi-scale feature transmitter (DCMFT) is implemented to reduce information loss during downsampling in the feature encoding and decoding section. Additionally, in the feature transfer process for each stage, iterative attentional feature fusion (iAFF) modules are inserted to fully utilize marine snow features extracted at different stages. Finally, to further optimize the network's performance, we incorporate the multi-scale structural similarity index (MS-SSIM) into the loss function to ensure more effective convergence during training. Through experiments conducted on the Marine Snow Removal Benchmark (MSRB) dataset with an augmented sample size, our method has achieved significant results. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach excels in removing marine snow noise, with a peak signal-to-noise ratio reaching 38.9251 dB, significantly outperforming existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underwater electric field (UEF) signature of a ship is a key factor in its survivability in marine warfare. Moreover, the study of a ship's UEF using scale models of ships in pools can be useful for the design of electromagnetically stealthy ships. Aiming at the system requirement of measuring and analyzing the UEF of scale models of ships with low noise, many channels, and real-time responsivity, we developed a system consisting of electrode sensors, a measuring device, and a personal computer (PC). Small Ag/AgCl electrodes with low noise and high stability were used. The measuring device was capable of simultaneously amplifying, sampling, and storing 24 channels of UEF data in real-time, and it was connected to the PC via Ethernet to facilitate the transfer of UEF data at high speeds. The PC software could display 24 low-frequency UEF curves in real time and perform spectral analysis and filtering of the UEF signals. In system performance tests, we found that the system had a noise floor lower than 6.34 nV/rt(Hz)@1 Hz and could simultaneously sample 24 channels of UEF signals while storing, displaying, and analyzing the signals in real-time. The primary functions of the system were also validated in a pooled experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of Arctic sea ice is one of the most visible signs of global climate change. As Arctic sea ice has retreated, Arctic marine shipping has increased. The Pan-Arctic's unique underwater acoustic properties mean that even small increases in ship traffic can have a significant effect on the ambient soundscape. This study presents the first long-term, basin-scale model of shipping noise in the Pan-Arctic with a focus on a few select sub-regions. The Arctic Ship Traffic Database from the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment is used in this study to model the locations and source levels from ships operating in the Pan-Arctic between 2013 and 2019. The acoustic footprint of these ships is explored temporally for the entire basin as well as for the select large maritime ecosystems of the Barents Sea, the Northern Bering-Chukchi Sea, and Baffin Bay. From 2013 to 2019, modeled shipping noise propagating underwater broadly increased between 5–20 dB across the Pan-Arctic, but more specific results in sub-regions are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]